Mail-box-transmission system.



J. MQGEE. MAIL BOX TRANSMISSION SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.2,1911.

Patented Mar. 12, 1912.

' UNITE JOHN MOGEE, 0F QUINLAIN, TEXAS.

MAIL-BOX-TRANSMISSION SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1912.

Application filed December 2, 1911. Serial No. 663,614.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN McGnn, a citizen of the United States, residingat Quinlan, in the county of Hunt and Texas, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Mail-Box lransmis 'sion Systems, of which thefollowing is a specification.

,My invention relates to new and useful improvements in cabletransmission systems for mail boxes.

In rural districts, the mail box at the road side is often removed aconsiderable distance from the farm house to which it-is desired todeliver the mail, and for this reason the residents along a ruraldelivery route are put to the inconvenience of a trip from the farmhouse to the road side and back each time the rural postman passes. Themaking of such a trip is more particularly a hardship in rainy weatheror when the ground is muddy. lVloreovcr unless a resident along a ruralroute happens to be in sight of the mail box at the time the postmanpasses, he cannot be certain whether or not any letters were placed. inhis box, and he may therefore uselessly make a trip from the house tothe mail box.

It is the object of the present invention to rovide a cable transmissionsystem especially adapted for use on rural delivery routes, for thepurpose of transmitting a mail-box from the roadside to a farmhouse andvice versa, thus saving the farmer the trouble and annoyance of walkingback and forth between the farm-house and mailbox to secure his letters.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cable transmissionsystem comprising a mail-box adapted to travel freely along the cableupon a, wheeled frame, the extremities of the cable being adapted toundergo vertical adjustment in order that the cable may be so inclinedas to produce travel of the mail box in either direction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism adapted tobe actuated by the postman with little effort and adapted to producetravel of the mail-box from the road-side to a farm house along thecable.

A still further object is to provide a manually operated means forraising that ex- State of.

tremity ofthe cable which is adjacent to the farlfi-house, so that themail-box may thus I be returned to the road-side after its con-' tentshave been removed at the farm-house.

Finally an object of: the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter described that will be strong, durable simple and cilicient,and comparatively easy to construct, and also one the various parts ofwhich will not be likely to get out of working order.

WVith these and various other objects in view my invention has relationto certain novel features of the construction and operation, an exampleof which is described in the following specification and illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of theherein described cable transmission system, a mail box being shown intransit upon the cable, traveling from the farm-house to the road-side.Fig. S2 is a detail perspective view showing a mechanism which may beoperated by the postman to release the means provided for holding theroadside extremity of the cable down, so that said extremity may beelevated to rn-oduce the travel of the mail-box to the farm-house.

Referring now more mrticularly to the drawing wherein like numerals ofreference designate similar parts in both the figures, the numeral 1denotes two pairs of vertical posts, one pair being side, or thereceiving end of the system, and the other pair at the farn'i-house, ordelivery end. The upper extremities of each pair of posts are rigidlyconnected by a horizontal crosspiece 2. The upper extremities of the twoposts at the delivery end of the system are funther connected by a pairof short beams 3, inclined upwardly toward each other and meeting midwaybetween said posts. From the middle of each cross-piece 2, a bar 1- isextended downward at an inclination of approximately 45 degrees, saidbars being oppositely inclined and positioned in the same imaginaryvertical plane passing midway between the two pairs of )osts.

The lower extremity of the rod 4 which is correlated with the posts 1 atthe delivery cod (adjacent to the farmhouse) is held rigid by a pair ofbrace rods 5, which extend convergently from the lower extremilocated atthe read ties of said posts 1. The lower extremity of the rod 4, whichis correlated with the posts 1 at the receiving end of the's ystem (adjacent to the road-side) is rigidly secured to a short "vertical post 6,embedded in the ground. Upon each of the inclined rods 4 there ismounted a wheel 7 having ,a grooved rim adapted to receive said rod. Aswill presently be explained the wheels 7 are Itive rods4, therebythesystem being heavier than that provided at. the receiving end.. Therod 4 at the revce'aiyin'g end of the system is provided at itslowerext-remity with a recessed portlon 11 oi jhpproxi'matelysemicircular shape, which portion is adapted to receive the wheel 7car-.

ried by said rod, holding the rod against a tendency to'upward travelupon the rod due adjacent to the road-si e.

to atension in the cable 9 acting toward the delivery end andoccasionedby the heavier weight 10 at said end of'the system.

As will presently be explained a wheeled frame supporting a mailbox isadapted-to travel upon the cable 9, and when the wheel 7 rests in therecess 11,said wheeled frame with its correlated mail-box will occupy aposition at the receivin end of the system After the rural postman hasdeposited mail in the box, he

may cause the same to travel from'the receiving t'o the delivery end ofthe system by releasing the wheel 7 from the recess 11 thus permittingsaid wheel to travel up the,

inclined rod 4 under the force already ex plained as due to the heavierweight 10 at the delivery end of the system.

In order to facilitate the operation of raisin the wheel 7 from therecess 11, and in or er-to save time for the postman, a mechanism isprovided'whi'ch will produce the desired result through the operation ofa pivoted lever, readily accessible for manipulation. This lever whichis designated by the numeral 12 is pivotally supported in a bracket 13surmounted upon the post 6.. One extremity of said lever is providedwith a handleand the otherextremity. is bifur-, Gated as is clearlyshown inFig. 2 the furupward and made to respec ,ively engage theextremities of the spindle 7 beneath said spams. Itgis thus apparentthat when the cations thus formed being! turned slightly vinga shank 8*?projecting par-- handle portion of the lever is depressed,

there will result an upward displacement of the bifurcated ends of thelever, thereby elevating the wheel 7 from the recess 11, so that saidwheel will be free to travel up the inclined rod 4 upon which it ismounted.

As the wheel 7 travels up the rod at the receiving end of the system,the wheel 7 at the delivery end willttravel down its supporting rod (dueto the superior weight 10 at the delivery end as compared with theweight 10 at the receiving end).

At the delivery end of the system a cord 14 isattached to the shank 8*-and is extended upwardly passing over a small sheave 15.

rotatably mounted in a bracket projecting downwardly from the junctureof the two beams 3. After aparty on a rural delivery route has removedhis mail from the box, by

exertingapull upon the cord 14, he will -cause the wheel 7 with itscorrelated parts to travel up the rod 4 at the delivery end, thecorresponding parts at the other end of the system at the same timetraveling downward upon the rod 4, due to the weight 10 at said end ofthe system. Owing to the inclination thus given to the cable 9, thewheeled frame and the mailbox supported thereby will travel down thecable andjoe returned to their normal position at the road-side. Whenthe wheel 7 at the receiv ing and of the system reaches the lowerextremity of its supporting rod, said wheel.

will enter the recess 11, thus preventing upward travelof said wheelwhen tension upon the cord 14 is released. The wheeled frame which isadapted to travel" along the cable is denoted by the numeral 16., andthe wheels resting upon the a ble and supporting said numeral 157N105frame are designatell by the The mail box which is supported by theframe 16 is denoted by the numeral 18.

The above explanation of the construction of thecable system is believedto make the operation thereof quite clear. Normally the parts 16, 17 and18 comprising a wheeled frame supporting a mail box will be positionedat the receivingend of the system adjacent to the road-side. In case thepostman has no mail for the party to whom the box belongs, he will ofcourse leave the same unmolested, the owner of the box thereby knowingthat no letters have come for him.

In case there should be mail for the owner of the box, the postman afterhaving placed the same in the box would simply exert a' slight downwardpressure upon the handle 12, whereupon as previously explained the cablewill assume an inclination such that the box will at once travel to thehouse, where the owner thereof may secure his mail withoutinconvenience. The owner of the box will then pull upon the cord 14,suffi ciently to raise the wheel 7 with its correlated parts (at thedelivery end) whereupon within the scope of the following claims p thebox will travel back to its normal position and remain there until thenext delivery of mail.

The invention is presented as including all such changes andmodifications as come Nha t I claim is 1. A cable transmission systemcomprising oppositely inclined rods, one of which is located at each endof the system, "a wheel adapted to travel upon each of said rods, abracket in which each wheel is mounted, a cable connecting saidbrackets, two unequal weights, one of which is attached to each bracket,a wheeled frame adapted to travel upon said cable, and means for holdingthe wheel which has the lighter weight attached to its correlatedbracket, to prevent upward travel oi said wheel.

2. A cable transmission system comprising oppositely inclined rods, oneof which is locarted at each end of the system, a wheel adapted totravel upon each of said rods, a

4 bracket in which each wheel is mounted, a

cable connecting said brackets, two unequal weights, one of which isattached to each bracket, a wheeled frame adapted to travel upon saidcable, means for holding the wheel which has the lighter weight attachedto its correlated bracket to prevent upward travel of said wheel, and amanually operated means for releasing said wheel from the means forholding the same.

A cable transmission system comprising oppositely inclix'ied rods, oneof which is located at each end of the system, a wheel adapted to travelupon each of said rods, a bracket in which each wheel is mounted, acable connecting said brackets, two unequal weights one of which isattached to each bracket, a wheeled frame adapted to travel upon saidcable, and a manually operated means for raising the bracket to whichthe heavier weight is attached. I

4. A cable transmission system comprising oppositely inclined 1'0ds, oneof which is located at each end of the system, a wheel adapted to travelupon each of said rods, a bracket in which each wheel is mounted, acable connecting said brackets, two unequal weights one of which isattached to each bracket, a wheeled frame adapted to travel upon saidcable, means for holding the wheel which has the lighter weight attachedto its correlated bracket to prevent upward travel of said wheel, and amanually operated means for raising the bracket to which the heavierWeight is attached.

5. A cable transmission system compris- 'ing oppositely inclined rods,one of which is ,located at each end of the system, a wheel adaptedtotravel upon each of said rods, a bracket m which each wheel ismounted, a

cable connecting said brackets, two unequal weights one of which isattached to. each bracket, a wheeled frame adapted to travel upon saidcable, means for holding, the wheel which has the lighter weightattached to its correlated bracket to prevent upward travel of saidwheel, a manually operated means for releasing the last named wheel fromthe holding means, and a manually operated means for raising the bracketto which the heavier weight is attached.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN McGEE.

Witnesses:

R. B. BowoeN, J. L. SMITH.

